A Bit More Concerning San Jacinto, the Sequins, Sam Houston, and the Texanos.....(updated and corrected)

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   In our previous writing, we have attempted to orient the OROG to many of the greater complexities that were swirling around the geographic expanses of what would become Mexico as it solidified, Texas as it ventured off into becoming an independent Republic, and issues as arcane and disjointed as the Battle of Puebla de los Angeles and its connection to the family of Juan Sequin.

     Long ago, this writer, while still at university, uncovered a body of older newspapers clippings (and copies thereof) with well-written stories about Texas Rangers in the 1830s who were essentially small companies (10 - 20 men) of scouts, essentially light-cavalry, and frequently Latin and Spanish-speaking.  Some of the companies were totally Latin, and at times there were Indians who rode in the ranks.
     There was even one story about such a group that left during the siege of the Alamo and rode from their homes in and around Yorktown, Texas about 90 miles southeast of San Antonio.   It declared as fact that they had gone to San Antonio, after learning of Col. Fannin's disastrous experience at Goliad, in order to join the issue at the Alamo.  
     As scouts, they proceeded carefully and gained proximity to San Antonio, then discarded their mounts (who would return home without riders) and snuck into the city and finally within the walls of the venerable, if battered, old mission.  It was said that they arrived too late to be registered and rostered, but that they were assigned to areas that needed more defence. 

    A couple of days ago, another writer and analyst of these issues and the Texanos.....made similar salient entries into the McAllen Monitor with accurate reporting surrounding the events of the period.  To wit:

     "On the battlefield that day, Captain Juan Sequin and his 20 Tejanos fought alongside Gen. Houston and his soldiers, according to Sequin's memoirs.  Texas history has always assumed that only 20 Tejanos were fighting for Texas Independence that day, but now, according to a recently discovered petition to the State Comptroller's office for (concerning) pensions that were not granted to Texanos who fought for Independence, the more correct figure was almost 120.  
      "Gen. Houston ordered Lt. Salvador Flores, Seguin's second in command to take 25 Texanos to patrol the ranches and settlements to the south of San Antonio.   About 20 Texanos, including Blas Herrera, Sequin's favourite scout, were transferred to Erastus (Deaf) Smith's company of scouts.  About 30 Texanos were sent east to escort and protect Texas families (who had caravanned towards Louisiana in case Santa Anna would have been successful in disbanding all Texian resistance).   Three other Tejanos were too sick to accompany their main body and were left at San Felipe de Austin, 10 more were stationed in Harrisburg, and 5 more were put in charge of the remuda of horses (possibly 250) at the moments of the Battle of San Jacinto."
Mr. Jack Ayoub 

     These facts are not disputed and are on record.  My own minor differences are that, for instance, at one time and a long time ago at that, I was content with my knowledge that Juan Sequin was in command of the Cavalry (what little there was) at San Jacinto.  I was wrong for about 15 years.   As we stated not too long ago, further research have shown that it is more than conclusive that Mirabeau Bonaparte Lamar was the commander of cavalry at San Jacinto.   It was he who ordered, by form of verbal request, the person of Capitan Juan Sequin to organize the cavalry and prepared for attack for the next day....the 21st of April.
     Lamar, Seguin, and Seguin's subordinates conferred about the general details of their attack.  The great body of Texian draft and reserve cavalry horses were moved back,  several miles, herded by the five men described above in all probability.  It was, therefore, Sequin and his men who performed the task, but technically, Lamar was the commander of that small and very important part of the force.
     It should also be pointed out that all of the Scouts and others who performed the very dangerous task of riding to the flank and behind enemy lines, and all the others who served in extremely precarious service never backed down, rendered, surrendered, capitulated, or in any way performed in a Benedict Arnold manner during this profoundly difficult time.
     Concerning the pensions not having been paid, that matter requires an explanation that might appear to be complex and / or deceptive,  but which is reasonable.   The pensions, once voted in the 1850s by the Texas Legislature, were terribly disordered at the failure of the Southern War for Independence.   Reconstruction lasted longest in Texas, ending in 1876.  Many of the records of the State Land Commissioner's Office and the State Comptroller's Office were in almost total disarray.
     For instance, in Tennessee which was "reconstructed" much more quickly, the pensions for "Coloured" veterans of Confederate service began to be paid, usually to surviving spouses in the 1890s,  because of the age requirement.  There was some, but not considerable difficulty in approving many of the applications, simply because of the time elapsed.
     Another thing was that many of the same families who had Tejanos in the war against Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna also participated in the War Between the States 25 years later, and almost all served in the Confederate forces.
      Therefore, this writer does not see a wholesale avoidance of paying pensions to deserving veterans and / or their spouses,  but rather a jumble of disregard by Union occupying forces, and then a passive lack of concern by women who might have been eligible but really did not care to travel from San Patricio to Austin in order to make application, thirty or forty years after the fact.
To wit:

Esparza Family survivors of the Battle of the Alamo
(El Gringo Viejo notes:   Gregorio Esparza was Col. James Bowie's closest friend.  He snuck into the Alamo through a window, well into the siege, and cared for the ailing Bowie, and died defending him.  Gregorio's brother was a ranking officer in the Mexican Expeditionary Force, and requested Lopez de Santa Anna that his brother be granted the benefit of Christian burial, and not burned, as in a trash heap.  Lopez de Santa Anna gave permission for that one internment with Holy Rites of the Roman Catholic Church.)

    His family members were spared and are listed as official non-combatant survivors of the Battle of the Alamo. María de Jesús Castro also known as María de Jesús Esparza was the young step daughter of Esparza, who was also spared after the battle. His wife, Ana Esparza died in 1847, and the family was left without parents. Between 1850 and 1860, Gregorio's sons, Enrique, Manuel and Francisco filed pension petitions to gain the rights to land at Pleasanton, Texas (south of San Antonio about 25 miles). Enrique, a San Antonio truck-farmer, also in the Alamo during the siege, was rediscovered in 1901 and became a recorded eyewitness of what transpired during the siege. His brother, Manuel owned a general store in Pleasanton, and later served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Francisco would also serve in the Confederate Army and later became a Texas Ranger. He eventually moved to Tucson, Arizona, and became a law officer in the area.

     So, kudos to Mr. Jack Ayoub for shaking bats from my belfry.  It reminds us, especially during these days, that the easy explanations are suspect.  The braids and strands of truth and fact must always be studied and considered and respected so as to avoid being turned into the rope of lies that would allow despots and people with ill agenda to hang us from a gallows of false history.

EL GRINGO VIEJO

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Updated Historical Analysis of the Cinco de Mayo

The Battle of Puebla de los Angeles, 

5 Mayo 1862

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 Somewhat stylised depiction of the

aftermath of the Battle of Puebla

  

   General Charles Ferdinand Latrille, Comte de Lorencez would probably not have liked the above illustration of the aftermath following his attack on the the two citadels outside of the city of Puebla de los Angeles.    He was commanding an expeditionary force representing the Empire of France, and Napoleon III, the nephew of the much loved and hated Napoleon Bonaparte.

Furst Otto von Bismark shown here sitting with the
 just-captured Emperor of France, following
the Battle of Sedan, in 1870.   It was that loss
 that established Germany as an Empire
 in its own right, and finished France as
 anything of importance for the next
 two centuries

Furst Otto von Bismark shown here sitting with the just-captured Emperor of France, following the Battle of Sedan, in 1870.   It was the loss that established Germany as an Empire in its own right, and finished France as anything of importance for the next two centuries.    The Franco - Prussian War's conclusion costed France Alsace and Lorraine, destroyed the Monarchy, and generally left France with an inferiority complex that it has never seemed to be able to outgrow.   Liberte', Fraternite', et Egalite' became Mediocrite', Hypocrite', et las femmes avec des jambes poilues.    But we diverge.   The issue here is the Battle of Puebla, in Mexico, eight years before these two gentlemen above-depicted had their brotherly, post-carnage conversation (they were 2nd cousins amd relatively close friends).      



      So why is all this fuss raised about the Battle of Puebla?   For one it was a splash of cold water over the reality that Mexico would be a difficult blowfish to swallow.    The French (Napoleon) assumed that if the Americans could beat the Mexicans, then anybody could.   The Americans had managed to dispatch the Mexicans in less than two years, carrying their war into the very center of the City of Mexico.   The Mexicans had avoided every advantage in that war, and even when winning, seemed to withdraw.   Very peculiar.

      The French, who were adamant about being repaid monies invested in Mexico on a loan basis.   Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna had stolen much of that money and moved to New York City where he set about various swindling schemes.   Antonio stole public money and private money so he would have been very comfortable working for Corzine and Co.

      Banditry was rampant in Mexico, the Wars of the Reform had ground on for years, with grumpy, autocratic Conservatives jostling with a grumpy, self-absorbed Zapotec Indian President who hated the Roman Catholic Church that taught him how to speak Spanish and read and write, hated white people, hated wealthy people, hated foreigners, and hated most Indians as well.   That is why everybody loved him, according to present day Mexican official history

Gazebo in the Main Plaza of
Alcutzingo, Vera Cruz, life is
tough with your licuado de mango.
Nobody minds if you put a couple of 
caps of aged Potosino rum from Cd, Valles
into the mix.  Many French, English, and
Southern Americans made home here and 
50 kilometres radius around here.   The cemeteries
have their names mixed into the genealogies.   The 
people are always excited and proud to talk about the
"big wedding" in 1876....and they have pictures!  It is
compelling.....to see the formality and dignity of it all.

       The French decide finally to invade, after failing to convince the Spanish and the Brits to join in the invasion of Mexico to recover all debts.    A huge army is dispatched to Vera Cruz, which is Mexico's principal port and one of its main sources of income to the government by means of the levy of  tariffs and import duties.    Starting with that income, the French would then fund their army's advance to the City of Mexico where the mints, stores of gold and silver coin and bullion, and site maps of the mines of gold, silver, copper, and semi-precious stones were known to exist in an abundance impossible to comprehend.

       The esteemed Generale Charles Latrille de Lorencez leaves Vera Cruz with a large army, under good order.   Zouaves, artillery, cavalry, drummers, buglers, bands, munitions and supply trains....and almost 30,000 effective combatants and close support personnel head West and Up....from sea-level to 7,300 feet fasl.    There are several significant skirmishes, and finally one significant battle that dispatches nominal Mexican Resistance.   Gen. Charles is being opposed by a Brigadier from the Guardia Nacional who is commanding about 1,000 regulars and about 4,000 better and lesser prepared troops from various local units of the Mexican Guardia Nacional, such as it was.

      Latrille de Lorencez had dispatched this unit here and that unit there as he moved, correctly,  into the interior of this foreboding and difficult terrain.   He learned about Mexico being hot, wet, dry, cold, windy, jungle, desert, and everything at the same time.   He also knew that each cluster, village, ranch, town, and city would have to be subdued, and  all this he did well, usually with little or no loss.    The significant battle that fairly well convinces all  that the French Army's task would be blessedly simple was fought on the 28th of April, 1862 in and around the community of Alcutzingo, not far from the pass of the same name that is hubbed on the mountain known as La Malinche or Matlalcueitl (goddess of blue and green waters, also perhaps non-salty water in Nahuatl language).



     Now, Alcutzingo is a blessed place, to the left is its showy gazebo in the main plaza.  It is said that many French soldiers retired there after all the warring, and other family members joined them when things had settled down.   There are also curmudgeon Gringos tucked in here and there in this and other similar communities here-abouts.  Various Confederates retired, died, came and went, invested, and lived good lives there after  The Woh - Wah.  (that is how one says the word 'war' in upland-South antiquated English.)

     It was here that the French dispatched the Mexican resistance and relaxed a bit to continue to Puebla de los Angeles.   It was anticipated that the conservative, very Roman Catholic population there would be happy to see the French and that there would be a celebratory reception.  Two days' march, 8,000 crack troops with fine French howitzers, a couple of grand entrances and a ball at the Kasino de Eventos on the Main Plaza beside the Great Cathedral....such anticipation was difficult to contain.   The officers and men knew that Puebla was a place of great refinement and excellent table fare as well.

The Peak of Matlacihuatl, aka La 
Malinche, northeast of Puebla

      It was two days later that the French forces prepared to assume control of the critically important city of Puebla.   But only one little nagging problem remained.   It was that same pesky Brigadier General Ignacio Zaragoza Sequin and his gaggle of rag-tags from the Mexican regular and highly irregular Army.   Some were more well trained and drilled, others not so much.  Various, although supposedly something like the national guard, were actually trained in civil  protection during floods and earthquakes.
    All of this had started downhill when   Le Generale Charles had been confounded by a call from the the French Royal authority who wanted Le Generale to return to Vera Cruz city with his army and assume total and secure possession of that city and everything within 100 leagues along the coast.    This call came shortly after French forces had secured Orizaba, another important, although smaller, city on their way to the west.   He had begun to prepare a compliance, but noticed that Mexican units had begun to demonstrate hostile postures along his flanks.   That is when Monsieur Le Generale determined to seal up the opposition and destroy its ability to resist in the future.   It was a "slight deviation" from his orders that he would regret in short order

     After a bit of preparation and reconnoitering, the French began an assault on the Fortress of Loreto and its brother on the right looking out, the Fortress of Guadalupe.    The Mexicans repulsed the first charge.   Then came the second and telling attack, during which time the French exhuasted their artillery advantage by running out of powder and munitions for the Brass Napoleon 6 pounders.    The Mexicans on the line of defence between the two citadels broke out of their lines, and were backed up by fresh and competent cavalry.    The third attack failed miserably.
      Flanking Mexican infantry, supported text-book style by cavalry,  followed a fairly disorderly retreat of the French, during which time they suffered a devasting series of counter attacks that could not be prepared for.    Heavy rains commenced and both sides quit the day.    The French forces had lost almost 500 dead, 500 captured and 600 wounded.

     Mexican irregulars continued to arrive and bolster weak spots in their ranks.   Zaragoza's Army had truly paid a price, with just shy of 100 dead and a similar number wounded, but the French estimated that by dawn there would be 3,000 more irregulars joining the Mexican assault.  Monsieur Le Generale Charles was to be astounded that he had been essentially destroyed by an inferior army in terms of numbers, training, and supplies but when he began his orderly retreat the next morning, NOBODY CAME TO CHALLENGE HIS REAR GUARD!   He was expecting an officer's group to arrive from Zaragoza to request his fine French sword.   None came.

     The battle stops there.  Zaragoza has no munitions.   Food is no problem.  From here to Vera Cruz there are beans, tropical fruit, fish, goats and cows that provide meat, cheese, milk, eggs and there is abundant production of wheat, rice, and corn.   But he has no munitions, and he does not know how much punch the French have left in them. He and his older, trusted subordinate, General Silvestre Aramberri determine to put up a hostile appearing distraction on the French rear-guard, which they do for the next two weeks.   They know that  at least the French are withdrawing.    At that is how the Battle of Puebla would end:

        Mexicans 1  -    French 0.

     

     The 31 year old Mexican Brigadier would be dead within two years.   Always sickly during his early years, and lovelorn at the loss of his betrothed in Monterrey  (cholera?) a few years before, he was a surprise graduate of the Colegio Militar.

   Born in Texas, near Goliad, was the direct nephew by blood of Juan Seguin who gave great and grand service to the Texian cause against Lopez de Santa Anna, both during the early stages of the siege of the Alamo, and later at the total destruction of Lopez de Santa Anna's Army at San Jacinto, Texas.

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 This is the ceremony paying honours to the

  Legionaire company commanded by

 Captaine Danjou,  His faux

forearm and hand are

 carried by the centre

 veteran behind the

  officers in this

 formation. 

     Monsieur Le Generale Latrille would come down with typhus, fight in other wars, become debilitated during his advancing years, but die among his own aristocracy in Paris in 1892. There is a legend of the Ceremony of Camarone, associated with a fight to death stand by some very valiant (perhaps stupidly so) Legionaires, sometimes associated with the Battle of Puebla, but while the heroic company was at the Battle of Puebla, their other heroism was accomplished about a year later and towards the northeast in the coffee  country down a bit lower in elevation.   Of 93 officers and men, only two survived.   The captain, who perished, had a wooden forearm and hand....quite a nice piece of art....which was recovered by an Anglo-French (Franglaise) farmer in the area and returned to the French much after the Battle.   There were only two survivors, and they demanded to be given terms or they would not surrender.   As per agreement, they were

escorted to French lines and delivered back to their Army.   It is said  the the Mexican Cavalry dismounted and gave the

two a sword salute and 21-gun honour-salute.

     To this day, the remembrance of the loss at the Hacienda de Camarone -  Tejada is commemorated with the Legion's most somber and moving ceremony.     The officers of the unit terminate the ceremony by service of coffee to the enlisted personnel.   The Hacienda concerned was and remains, actually, a source of some of the best coffee grown.   To end, the soldiers did not die at the Battle of Puebla, but they had fought there, a year earlier.

The prosthetic forearm and

 hand of the Captaine Danjou

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     Too much for one Gringo to digest.   But...now the OROGs know and understand the rest of the beginning of the story about the Cinco de Mayo.    Very quickly, it becomes a much deeper and wider story.   It is a compelling story, and one of the best places to start would be "The Cactus Throne", which is a definitive, dispassionate, and even-handed treatment of the rise and fall of the Second Mexican Empire.

Thanks for spending your time with us again. 

El Gringo Viejo

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Rio Grande Valley is unusually quiet as Southwest border crossings drop to lowest point in at least 17 years

     It is not exactly true that all the "refugees" and "migrants" come North under the control by the "cartels".  The exodus that the folks saw take place during the Summer of 2015, for instance, was caused specifically because of the interruption by the Mexican Army and the Mexican Naval Infantry.   having significantly beaten down and organizationally disorganized, the "cartels" in the east of Mexico had degenerated into disparate groups of semi-organized, inefficient gangs.  They began to look and act more like racketeers.   During these moments, most of the people arriving at the edge of the Rio Grande, then crossing into Texas, almost immediately began to demand (in their great majority) first, to be arrested, and second, to be transported to a place of their choice elsewhere in the United States, "where we have relatives working".   They had been taught that by "religious workers" back in the home country, and then reinforced in that mode of thinking by Catholic Charities workers here in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas (McAllen / Brownsville area).
     The Border Patrol agent was either wrong in making that statement or was trying to find out if the respondent would stay on top of her story. If anything, the vast majority of the people who arrived before, during the past three years, went through a "beating line" (running the gamut) of several local gangs on their way up, but only within a day's foot or train or hitching journey from the Guatemalan border.    After the city of  Vera Cruz, their ride was frequently on a first-class bus (not deluxe), or a similar, but not quite as fancy and more of an "all-stops" 2nd Class bus.  But it was a comfortable run, not a "chicken and goat bus" as is normally depicted in American movies.  As the "migrants" and "refugees" came North, they would encounter information from others who were heading back South.

La Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre

     I live in Mexico on a bit more than part-time.   Our family has been active 

 in business in Mexico since the 1880s.  We own an adobe home that we built in a beautiful,

 remote area about 220 miles into the interior of Mexico.   We use it as a family retreat.

   We also receive visitors who come to enjoy the bird and animal watching, the tranquility,

 and the beer, margaritas, meals, and the attentions we normally provide.

     It must be understood that, of the females, at least three-fourths who came up, between the ages of 12 - 40 were pregnant. When they presented "dependent children", perhaps half of the time the children pertained to the woman presenting them as her off-spring. People in Honduras, especially, essentially rent or sell their children to accompany the north-bound woman, in an excercise of symbiotic convenience.

     People, normally women and very young children, would arrive at water's edge on the Rio Grande in the Mission - Sharyland - McAllen area and engage a "chalan" or some semblance of a watercraft that is normally hand paddled or paddle paddled over to the Texas side of the Riio Grande.   The "cruceros" then return to the other side as quickly as possible, and it is there where they might have to face the music from the cartel slugs.  Those individuals show up after the "cruceros" have been paid, and the cartel guys will take all or a significant part. 

     The cartel people are much more well organised, but one must recognise during these days that they take immense losses to the Mexican military (dead, wounded, and loss of merchandise) and on the "other side" mules being detained and arrested and their cargo confiscated.   The cartel operations cross in small boats, jet-skis, inner-tubes, etc. large amounts of drugs and marijuana. That is their business. The women coming with tales of abusive husbands, terror caused by gangs, and all the horrible things....are telling the truth to some extent...albeit minor. Most of the "refugees" are coming to find the Fountain of Plenty....AFDC, Section 8, food stamps, Medicaid, and a score of other special programmes they receive...because once a "refugee" whelps on American soil, she cannot be deported because she is the only support for her baby, and the baby is an "American Citizen" even if in name only. He cannot be deported, and the mother is his/her only source of sustenance. That is the game.  Please do not doubt this.   These are not the Mexicans (legal and otherwise) of the 1930s - 1960s who were almost totally benign or positive aggregates to the general population.

     The sad thing is, these women are quickly caught up in the MS13 mess....and the other minor-league Central American cobwebs of drugs-prostitution-money laundering-murder-extortion-and chaotic social non-adaptation. They are in no wise "refugees" nor "immigrants". It is simply a shake-down of Uncle Sam and what the Democrats think will be a well-spring of votes in short order. The Republicans speak in muffled tones because of where their heads are anatomically placed. So nothing is done.

      Mexican "self-deportation" has worked to the extent that more adult non-American citizen Mexicans have returned to Mexico without prompting than have "gone North" during the past 12 months, especially if their visitors' or work visas have lapsed. Mexico has a pronounced labour shortage. Three to five time minimum wage with benefits is not uncommon at these moments for semi-skilled and especially "skilled" blue-collar people.

     I could go on forever. But reporters and the anti-Mexican commentators, and the anti-American commentators, on the screeds of the Obsolete Press and their acolytes, just sadden and bore me. The inability to do critical thinking is a cancer that has defeated the American....and Mexican....ethos. The folks at the LA Times send reporters down who magnet onto the Frida leftist movement, and declare American attitudes, free enterprise, and capitalism is at fault for everything.              
   Another form of passive Imperialism, for instance, frequently intoning the shibboleth  "just look at what the "blockade" did to Cuba and its people!" they declare without regard to the falsity of the argument.   They send back bilge to print in their magazines and newspapers, which are less and less frequently read, but with which they have accord, because they are of the same anti-normalcy, anti-American, anti-"rich people" mentality that are now being vomited out of to-day's marxist and "liberation theology" colleges and universities, public and private.

    God help you all.   I am your friend.  Since my father was in the Horse Cavalry (Headquarters Squadron, 12th Regiment (mounted), Ist Cavalry Division, serving primarily on the frontier between Mexico and the Texas) I feel obliged, willingly, to oppose the stupid wall proposed by Trump. There are many better ways to secure the border.
     Also, please be advised, that if you stop by our little adobe hut you will be well treated. But...what you see about any and all of this issue in the modern "press"  is goat vomit. I am an ultra-rightwing, Republican since 1952, grandfather, father, inter-ethnic marriage (English-Spanish), college graduate, Honourably Discharged, traditionalist Episcopalian, losing blood relatives on both side of the War Between the States, bi-lingual curmudgeon....the classic un-complicated man.

   I would pray that you would be led into a true reportage of the matters facing the border, America, Mexico, and Canada, and humanity.   We thank you for your time and patience.
El Gringo Viejo.

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